CCL: Quakes officially in 2013-14 CCL with win over COL

Saturday night's results mean two of the four spots for US clubs in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League are now spoken for.

With their commanding 4-1 win over the Colorado Rapids, the first-place San Jose Earthquakes assured that they can finish no lower than second in the Supporters' Shield hunt, behind only Sporting KC. Since Sporting have already qualified — they were the first team to earn a berth thanks to their US Open Cup title — San Jose would claim one of those two spots even if they should stumble and fail to claim the Shield.

The 2013-14 competition will mark the first time in the reformatted CCL for both the Quakes and Sporting, both of which competed in the old CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

The final two spots for US clubs will be awarded to the two sides that make it to the MLS Cup final. Should one of both of those spots go to San Jose and/or Sporting KC, the final 2012 MLS regular-season standings will be used to determine the representatives. This is similar to the case for the 2012-13 CCL, in which Real Salt Lake qualified via their third-place finish in the 2011 regular season after the two teams ahead of them, LA (Shield) and Seattle (USOC), had already qualified via other means.